Devil May Cry 4 refrain is touch and go – games review

Surely not even Capcom can make the intense action of Devil May Cry work on an iPhone? Maybe not, but you’d be surprised how close they get…

Devil May Cry 4 refrain (iPhone) – we’d refrain from a purchase

If we were going to turn any existing title into an iPhone game then Devil May Cry 4 would be right at the very bottom of our list. It’s a game that uses every single button of a joypad and still seems to want more, as you engage in highly technical combat that prizes split-second precision above all else. Getting all that to work on a touchscreen is clearly impossible, but Capcom have gone ahead and tried anyway.

Until God Of War and Bayonetta stole its thunder Devil May Cry was the preeminent roaming beat ’em-up and number three in particular remains a classic of the genre. This isn’t a spin-off or side story but an abridged version of number four from the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It packs almost all of the enemies, bosses and locations into the iPhone’s tiny screen (or the iPad’s slightly larger one), which is something not even the recent Dead Space game tried.

As impressive as the idea of having a whole HD game in the palm of your hand is, trying to tell the game’s nonsensical story through the medium of static screenshots and non-spoken text is a mistake. The over the top nature of the characters doesn’t come across at all well and you’ll be hitting the Skip button within seconds.

Once you do you’re presented with the opening sequence from the original game, except the only controls are a virtual joystick and a jump, attack and special button. (An alternative control system lets you complicate things slightly by splitting attack between your sword and guns.) This is already pretty complex for an iPhone game, especially when you add in the Exceed Gauge – which lets you rev up your sword via a motorbike style throttle.

All the basic moves are there then but crucially you have little real control over them. The game makes a show of illustrating the specific finger contortions needed for each move, but it’s all for nothing. Unlike the home console versions button mashing will see you through every challenge on offer.

Apart from anything pulling off specific moves is extremely difficult, given the vagaries of touchscreen control and how little difference there is between many of the inputs. As a result the game’s attempts at a combo system fall flat and are quickly forgotten.

This combined with refrain’s curiously low difficulty level means your mind soon begins to wander. It didn’t matter in the original version that so many of the enemies were the same or that the puzzles were so inane – mastering the complex combat system was more than enough to keep you interested. Simplified as much as it is here though the game’s whole purpose begins to falter.

You do get to customise your moveset, but only by selecting unlocked abilities before each mission. The red orbs you collect are now only for points and can’t be used to buy new moves or equipment.

One other genuine disappointment is the graphics, which don’t look like anything more than a high res PSP game. It seem the whole game was ported over from a Japanese-only mobile release from a few years ago, but whatever the case it certainly isn’t up there with the iPhone’s best. Especially not Capcom’s own Street Fighter IV, which not only looks better but makes a better compromise with the controls and gameplay.

Devil May Cry 4 refrain is not something we’d ever recommend paying for, even at the current introductory price, but it is a laudable – if foolhardy – effort nonetheless.

In Short:All the component pieces are here, but given the severe control limitations the subtitle here should have been ‘lite’ not ‘refrain’.

Pros:Almost every aspect of the original is featured in some way, even if it’s heavily truncated. Basic controls are fine, especially the virtual joystick.

Cons:The gameplay experience is dumbed down so much it all becomes a mindless, and largely pointless, exercise in button mashing. Weak graphics and presentation.Score:5/10